After learning a fight over the television in his apartment led to a scuffle that would leave a Pontiac man dead, the man's neighbors said he was a selfless person who would anything for his family.

"He would've given that TV away if (his nephew) would've asked him," said Clotis Timmons, 73, as several people stood outside Monday talking about the night's events. "No one here has nothing bad to say about him."

Deputies say the nephew of Robert Brantley, 57, is in custody after a family fight ended with Brantley dead at the Phoenix Place Apartments in Pontiac.

His neighbor, who lives on the third floor of the government-subsidized housing complex, said Brantley would come to her apartment, help out when he could and hold barbecues for his friends.

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Timmons, who conveyed that she and the 57-year-old were "the best of friends," said Brantley was the type of person who, if he was mopping his floor, would mop his neighbors' floor if they asked -- at the drop of a dime.

He was a kind-hearted person who kept his apartment clean and, largely, kept to himself, she added.

She saw Brantley's nephew at the comlpex the day before, she said.

Officials arrived at the Phoenix Place Apartments, located in the 47000 block of Woodward Avenue, to investigate the fight that had reportedly broken out between Brantley and his nephew, 45.

Responding officials found the nephew attempting to perform CPR on his uncle inside the apartment on the building's ninth floor. Deputies took the nephew into custody and continued the CPR.

Initial reports from deputies indicate that the scuffle began when the relatives were arguing over the television. The 45-year-old "suspect choked (Brantley) until he lost consciousness and then called 911," according to an Oakland County Sheriff's Office release.

The 57-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene by McLaren Oakland medical personnel. Medical examiner's office investigators reported that Brantley died of manual strangulation. His death has been ruled a homicide.

Frederick Keith Spann, III, 61, lives on the second floor of the complex. Sitting on the grass outside the 14-story building, Spann said Brantley's death was at least the fourth time an incident like this has happened in the apartment building.

"Something needs to be done," he said. "These are low-income people living here -- we need some kind of support."

He added that residents used to be able to park in the neighboring Phoenix Center, but have since been banned to an unlit dirt driveway in front of the building.

"There's no lights out there," said Spann. "(The parking lot) probably looks like candy for anyone who wants to rob cars in that lot."

He said Sunday's incident made him wish security would be beefed up around the area.

Another resident of the complex, who asked not to be named in this story, said she woke up Monday morning and saw television crews outside on the street.

When she found out it was her neighbor who died overnight, she was shocked, she said.

"I've known him at least since 1985," said the woman, 74, who lives one floor above where the incident occurred. "I learned there was a fight around 1 a.m., but I didn't hear anything."

The woman, noting the increased danger of living in a downtown area, said that it's "bad everywhere."

"I don't walk outside by myself," she said. "I have friends come and pick me up for church ... it's dangerous and that."

Brantley was a member of Living Word Ministries, located on 533 Franklin Road in Pontiac, reported the Phoenix Place resident.

The 57-year-old man's nephew was questioned at the Pontiac substation, then taken to the Oakland County Jail, deputies say.

Staff writer John Turk covers the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, police and general assignment. He can be reached at 248-745-4613.